Happy St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor knew his side would face groundhog day from the media and fans alike if they dropped the Anzac Day clash to the Sydney Roosters.

Known for their hot starts to the season and then dropping off, the Dragons won again on Wednesday running out 24-8 victors. Last year, the Dragons lost the corresponding clash before nose diving in losses to the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla.

“I know if we’d have lost people would’ve come at us because we were in the same position last year,” McGregor said.

“For a mental state, it’s good for the guys to go away and have four days on a win because history has shown we’ve been in the same position.

“At the same time last year we lost this game in extra time and we got blown off the park against Melbourne. Then we lost against Cronulla in the last couple of minutes and a lot of negativity came in.

“We’ve got to prove ourselves every week and we understand that, but we’re a different football team this year. We couldn’t manage a win last year on the back of a five-day turn and we’ve got two in the first eight weeks of footy. We played all afternoon on the back foot so to win with a score like that, four tries to one, was pleasing. Some individuals came up with special moments and certainly as a group the way they defended together was gritty.

Macdonald has a double! #NRLDragonsRoosters 24-8 with 10 minutes remaining. #TelstraPremiership #NRL pic.twitter.com/p8q7qjfIVk

— NRL (@NRL) April 25, 2018

“We’ve got to prove it next week to, it’s not just this week and it’s not just last week. We need to forget about the past, and look at what we’re going to do in the future.”

Just like last year, the Dragons play the Storm at Kogarah in round 9 action.